its okay 00Z28 Camaro, you'll be paying for half of it 
what octane do you use?
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From: Hometown:Mount Carmel, IL Current: Las Vegas, NV
marathon 93 or shell vpower 93 here...it says in the fuel door "premium fuel recommended" or "premium fuel only" one of the two...either way...use the premium.
Teching In
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From: Armpit of America: Owasso, OK
I use 93, but I live in OK where we don't have inspection and 93 is 2.09/gal. My dad drove it and put 87 in it before he gave it back to me. Felt like an *** paying for 93 in his Tahoe when he put the slim-fast crap in my T/A. She felt like a drunken Hippo moving through mud...
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Hey couple questions....
I've always heard running more than the necessary octane is actually bad for the car and causes carbon build up. If 93 and 91 are both available options, is running 93 unneccessary and actually worse than 91 (which as someone noted is what the manual suggests)? If one is available sometimes and not the other, is it doing any harm mixing and matching and getting at least 91 but sometimes 93?
Lastly, I went on a road trip in the new Z28 a few weeks ago. In stupid New Jersey they don't let you pump your own gas, and some asshat on the side of the turnpike filled me up with 87. That really aggitated me and I can't imagine living there. It made me pissed off enough just having to worry about him being careful with the cap and not dripping all over the paint. I told him 93, I thought he pumped 93, but I stuck the credit card receipt in the cupholder and read it after the fact and it said 87. If that happens for some lame reason like a pump jockey puts the wrong grade in or a family member borrows the car and tries to be cheap, does it cause any longterm harm?
I've always heard running more than the necessary octane is actually bad for the car and causes carbon build up. If 93 and 91 are both available options, is running 93 unneccessary and actually worse than 91 (which as someone noted is what the manual suggests)? If one is available sometimes and not the other, is it doing any harm mixing and matching and getting at least 91 but sometimes 93?
Lastly, I went on a road trip in the new Z28 a few weeks ago. In stupid New Jersey they don't let you pump your own gas, and some asshat on the side of the turnpike filled me up with 87. That really aggitated me and I can't imagine living there. It made me pissed off enough just having to worry about him being careful with the cap and not dripping all over the paint. I told him 93, I thought he pumped 93, but I stuck the credit card receipt in the cupholder and read it after the fact and it said 87. If that happens for some lame reason like a pump jockey puts the wrong grade in or a family member borrows the car and tries to be cheap, does it cause any longterm harm?
Teching In
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From: Armpit of America: Owasso, OK
high octane=slower, more complete burn. U get more power since it spends more time pushing down on the power stroke. 87 practically explodes, so you're knock sensor witll retard your timing to compensate, but the thing's still gonna knock. Since 93 burns slower, you get a cleaner engine since more of it gets burned off. And the're no long term harm unless they keep doing it a lot. Something else would hurt your engine LONG before what octane you're running becomes an issue. Higher octane also delivers SLIGHTLY SLIGHTLY SLIGHTLY better mileage, provided you can keep your foot out of that extra power.
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Joined: Nov 2001
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From: Mississauga, Ontario
I run Sunoco 94, but I still hear a bit of mild pinging occasionally! And I even had my timing reduced a little bit when it was dyno tuned (I believe it's set to 28 total at WOT)
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Joined: Apr 2003
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From: fairfax, va
i just drove 2,490 miles in 5 days. car is a 98 TA a4.... and has ssra, lid, free mods, tr-6 plugs.
87 octane was ok as long as i didn't WOT it. heard a little knock going up the ramps. cruising speed was at least 75-80mph (i-80).
did some 100-130 mph pulls, no problem.....didn't want to go faster due to being in a convertible with almost every inch of space filled with my ****.
best MPG was 31 mpg (got stuck behind a ******* cop who wouldn't let anyone pass....SOB was showing off to his 3 friends in the cruiser....maybe ride-a-longs.....so everyone did 75mph on the dot for at least 100 miles through Nevada).
worse MPG was 22 mpg but i think the gas nozzle cut off prematurely....most of the MPG calcs were around 26+ mpg.
gonna reset the PCM and run 91 oct in shitty San Joser.
87 octane was ok as long as i didn't WOT it. heard a little knock going up the ramps. cruising speed was at least 75-80mph (i-80).
did some 100-130 mph pulls, no problem.....didn't want to go faster due to being in a convertible with almost every inch of space filled with my ****.
best MPG was 31 mpg (got stuck behind a ******* cop who wouldn't let anyone pass....SOB was showing off to his 3 friends in the cruiser....maybe ride-a-longs.....so everyone did 75mph on the dot for at least 100 miles through Nevada).
worse MPG was 22 mpg but i think the gas nozzle cut off prematurely....most of the MPG calcs were around 26+ mpg.
gonna reset the PCM and run 91 oct in shitty San Joser.
93 here. Used to run 94 when Sunoco had it. Never tried anything less, and never added any cleaner, and never had any problems. It is about $2.40 or so a gallon round here. ******* expensive, especially when both your cars take it.
only run premium Mobil gas, i have idea what the octance rating is, i just know its the expenisive one, hell i could be buying 104 octane at $3.59 a gallon and not even relize it
TECH Senior Member
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 7,234
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From: Mississauga, Ontario
Originally Posted by skunk50
worse MPG was 22 mpg but i think the gas nozzle cut off prematurely....most of the MPG calcs were around 26+ mpg.